Putting Some Weight on Mary

We had to return to the doctor for Mary on Monday, June 22nd to see if we could put some weight on her in a week.  Her weight the week earlier was 14 lbs., 8.5 oz., and her weight at this appointment was 15 lbs., 7 oz.  She gained 14.5 oz. in one week, which the doctor was really happy about.  We didn't have to do any thyroid testing since she proved she was capable of gaining weight with some nutritional changes.  One of the biggest challenges was that she does not take a bottle or sippy cup, so I had to get creative with supplementing with coconut milk or regular milk.  I ended up making puddings with full-fat coconut milk blended with chia seeds to make it thick, and I added dates and other fruits to sweeten them.  She gobbled those things up along with A LOT of avocados.

Here's an example of one day's meals:
Breakfast: 1 whole egg + 1 yolk scrambled with half and half and cheddar in ghee and olive oil, 1/2 avocado, blueberries

Lunch: Pudding (1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 dates, 1 Tbsp chia seeds)  Multivitamin powder added and 1/4 tsp FCLO-Butter blend supplement

Dinner: About 1/4 oz ground beef dipped in full-fat yogurt sauce, 1 Tbsp zucchini w/ olive oil, and Strawberry 'yogurt' (1/3 cup coconut milk, 1/3 tsp chia seeds, 1/2 date, 1/8 avocado, 1 strawberry)

She still eats quite a bit at meals, but she started to slow down at the end of the week.  It's almost as if she caught up, and her body said it was ready to slow down a bit.  Hopefully she'll continue to steadily grow, and we'll check back in at her regular 12-month appointment.

Jackson's Pre-K Graduation

Somehow I forgot to post Jackson's Pre-K graduation from May 19th.  He started at First Baptist Church of Jenks Preschool in January where he went to school from 9:30am-2:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There were 3 Pre-K classes, and each class sang three songs.  After their program was done, they walked across the stage to receive their certificate.  Here's Jack's picture after the ceremony:

He starts his Pre-K program through the public school system next month.  He will be going from 8:15am-3:15pm five days per week.  He's our lover of anything academic, and he loves structure and rules.  His teachers this past year said that he has great fine motor skills and a strong ability to write his letters and numbers.  They also said he is a very active participant in class activities.

Making Our Own Fun

This late spring we've spent a lot of time indoors either due to the rain or how hot it has been.  None of the kids are huge fans of being really hot, and they all look so flushed when we're outside for too long.  Both boys have had a lot of fun designing things with a set of shape pieces.  Owen made the arrow below all by himself, and Jack gets really creative with the things he makes.  He makes flowers, dogs, robots, etc.  The only downside is the insane amount of pieces all over the floor that have to be cleaned up.

Both boys have a lot of fun dressing up and pretending.  I love Owen's cowboy boots while building magna tiles.  Listening to them pretend and make up stories together is a highlight of my days.  A lot of their pretend story lines include running from tornadoes, so I think spring in Oklahoma has made it's mark on them :).  Another big one is running from hot lava.  Very adventurous!

They both really enjoy legos as well.  Jack has gotten really good at building things based on the plans they include in the sets.  They have also really enjoyed drawing pictures and doing crafts.

 

We made paper plate faces last week, and they had so much fun with the paint and googly eyes.  Jack said he wanted to make a chicken, but by the time he started painting and putting eyes on it he changed it into what he called a silly monster.  Owen started out wanting to make a pig, but I told him it looked more like a peacock.  He walked around with it saying "my peacock" for the rest of the day…so cute.

When we do get outside, the boys like riding their scooters around our neighborhood lake.  There are a lot of ducks, geese, and turtles to look at.  

We also spend a lot of time playing on our driveway.  The boys ride bikes and scooters, and I got the water table out one day when it was hot.  We have a splash pad in our neighborhood, and the boys have a great time running around in the water.  Neither of them will get under the buckets that dump water on you.

 

We also celebrated National Donut Day, and they were huge fans of this 'holiday.'

I took the boys to get their hair cut a couple weeks ago, and Owen loved sitting on the motorcycle.  He was so good and actually sat still the whole time pretending to ride it.  Jack was less thrilled about it, but he tolerated it.

I got some rare alone time with Owen recently when the other two were napping.  It's pretty rare that Jack actually falls asleep, but he did that particular day.

This picture pretty much reflects how Owen is recently.  He has a lot of 'intense emotions,' and he spends a lot of his time taking a stand or telling us what he's not going to do.  He's laying across his scooter refusing to get up and not wanting me to touch him, because he fell on his butt off his scooter (not a bad fall at all).

We went grocery shopping while Jack was at school a few weeks ago, and Mary had her first chance to ride in the cart instead of the carrier.  I also let Owen use the kids cart, which I generally can't do when it's all three kids.  He did a great job following directions and not hitting people in the ankles. 

These are just two pictures of the whole crew out and about.  The bottom picture is in line at Target.  Owen was laying down in the front of the cart, and Mary was in a pike position trying to reach the wallet in my hand.  

This past Friday Jack had his first ever trip to the ER.  He fell wrong off of a low rope swing and had a concussion from hitting the back of his head on the ground.  On the plus side, he got a popsicle out of it at the hospital!

It was our 6-year anniversary on May 24th.  My parents just happened to be in town, so we got our first date night in 10 months!!  Our last time out alone was a month before Mary was born, so it had been a while.  

 

We finally found a babysitter here in Tulsa this week!  It is our neighbor's granddaughter, and the boys liked her a lot so we're looking forward to more quiet nights out in the future.

Mary's 9-Month Update

I'm getting to the 9-month update a little bit late since I wanted to wait until her 9-month wellness visit, which we just had yesterday.  Here is Mary's 9-month photo on the 5th:

Mary's stats are:
Weight- 14 lbs. 8.5 oz (3rd percentile)
Height- 26.7 inches (20th percentile)
Head- 44.7 cm/17.5 inches (68th percentile)

She actually lost 14 oz. since her 6-month appointment, and she grew less than half an inch.  We have to go in next week to re-weigh her after doing some things nutritionally to hopefully get her to gain some weight.  If she hasn't gained any weight then we'll have to do some blood work to check her thyroid function.    

As far as what she's up to these days, she has taken a little bit more of an interest in getting mobile.  Up until about 3 weeks ago, she didn't seem to care at all about getting around.  She's just a hang out sitting in one spot and play kind of girl.  I set her up with some toys, and she'll just sit there moving through different ones putting them in her mouth and looking at them.  As is Nichols baby tradition, our kids like to start off with the commando crawl.  Mary will push herself in circles and backwards, but she hasn't moved forward yet.  She hangs out on her belly, and when she's tired she either rolls onto her back our lays her head down on the floor and sucks her thumb until she gets picked up.  She's a totally different temperament than either of the boys.  Jack was climbing staircases and Owen was crawling out our back patio door at this point.  If Mary was our first born, she and I would snuggle in bed all day and take a lot of naps.  That's just what she likes!

Here are some of the cute pictures taken this month of her happy little face.

Mary is a huge fan of selfies, because she likes seeing herself in the camera.  She also loves the mirror.  Whenever we're about to enter a room with a mirror she sticks her head out as far as she can to see the mirror before we even get into the room.  She always waves her arms and kicks her legs when she sees herself.

Mary has pretty much started to clap.  She swings her arms together trying to clap, and her hands connect sometimes.  She's getting the basics down of it.  She has also started to pull up when I hold my hands out for her.  She laughs so hard when she stands up all proud of herself.  I let her pull up in her crib one morning, and she ended up tipping over and hitting the bottom of her chin on the bar and biting her tongue.  I felt bad for her, so I just let her practice her skill holding on to my hands for now.  She is still sleeping 11.5 to 12 hours straight at night.  She can eat double her body weight in avocado/guacamole, and she also loves eggs.  She's a weirdo who does not like watermelon :).

She's pretty much just my little buddy baby.  She would be happy if I just held her and walked around with her all day long.

Mother's Day, Superheroes, and A Bit More

Mother's Day was particularly fun this year, because it's the first year that Jack really understood that it was a holiday.  They had been talking about it at school and preparing for a Mother's Tea singing program for several weeks.  Also, Jonathan marked it on the calendar for him.  To say that Jack loves holidays/birthdays is an understatement.  He looks for any reason to celebrate.  Jonathan woke up at 5:45 A.M. on Mother's Day to find Jack sleeping on the floor next to our bed.  He woke Jack up, and Jack said that he had come down to start Mother's Day.  He had Jack get into bed, and he just slept with us until his normal 7:30 A.M. wake up time.

Jack made me the top card the morning of Mother's Day, and he made the bottom card at school.

Here's the survey that he did at school.  I love that he views my best skill as cleaning :).

 

This morning his school had Mother's Tea where they served little desserts and drinks, and each of the classes sang three songs.  The shadow portrait was the gift to moms from the kids in Jack's class.

Owen and Mary were so patient with the program that lasted an hour.  Owen was occupied by eating way too many mini brownies, mini muffins, and lemonade.  Mary stayed happy until the very end even though she was so tired since it was during her usual morning nap time.  Jack did so great singing and doing all the hand motions.  I've watched the video a few times since we came home, and he makes me laugh so hard.  He was definitely the most "enthusiastic" of his class, and I thought he was going to dance his way out of the line a few times.  

Overall, it's been a fantastic Mother's Day celebration.  I didn't make any meals or clean a single dish on Mother's Day, and Jack camped out next to our bed from excitement to celebrate me…it doesn't get much better than that.

Last Tuesday was Superhero/Princess Day in Jack's class to celebrate all of the kids in his class being able to write their names independently.  Owen wanted to get in on the action too, so I dressed him up as well.  It was super cute seeing all the kids in their costumes.

Owen/Superman washed his motorcycle when we got home.  This is one of his favorite activities, and he was drenched when he was done (he spent about an hour washing it).  He didn't want to change clothes, so I dried his outfit and put it back on to pick Jack up from school.

With a bribe of gummies I was able to get Owen to pose for me.  When we picked Jack up from school, each child got a superhero cookie.  Jack picked the cookie that matched his costume.

We've had a series of rainy days here, and I was itching to get out of the house.  I took them to paint pottery.  The boys had a great time picking out their colors and painting star plates.  Besides the stress of keeping them from touching things due to the "you break it, you buy it" policy, it was a lot of fun.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Jack has shown an increased interest in helping in the kitchen now.  Friday night we made a homemade pizza together since it's a kid-friendly meal for him to help with.

Next week is Jack's preschool graduation ceremony.  He will still be in pre-k next year since he's a November birthday, but he'll be going full days, five days a week through the public school system.  So he is graduating from his current part-time community preschool program.  I'm so excited to see him in his little cap and gown!

Mary's 8-Month Update

Mary turned 8-months old yesterday, and I can't even believe how fast this first year is going!  Here is her monthly photo:

She's really become a more active member of the family instead of just sitting on the sidelines watching.  The boys love her so much, and she thinks they are extremely interesting to watch.    

They both love showering her with kisses and doing raspberries on her belly.

As you can see below she has her two bottom front teeth.  You can see the edge of another one poking through on the bottom.  She's constantly chewing on her hands and just about anything she can get a hold of.

Mary finally enjoys bath time and actually relaxes.  She went through a phase where she spent the entire bath screaming.  She also hated having lotion applied, and she laughs now when you do it…improvement!

She isn't a huge fan of her car seat, but she does pretty well as long as she has some toys to play with and chew on.  

I've strayed from the baby led weaning strategy and have gone to purees.  Mary was getting angry that she couldn't hold onto food well.  She would get upset when she couldn't get a piece of food in her mouth.  I tried purees and she was a total happy camper being able to actually swallow something.  She is a food lover for sure.  If you're too slow getting food into her mouth she starts crying, and she doesn't like to watch others eat while she's not eating.  I eat pretty much all my meals cold when she is present.

I would say her favorite food is egg yolk.  This girl can eat two 4-oz fruit packs and an egg yolk before I end the meal for her.  She would keep going if I let her, but I don't want her to get over-full and not nurse well.

Her most recent milestone is that she started waving on May 4th, so the day before she turned 8-months.  I was holding her watching the boys eat breakfast, and she started waving at them.  She then did it four more times before her morning nap.  I was able to get a short video of it.  She's a waving-machine now :).  She waves at people, the refrigerator, the window…she loves it.  She looks at her hand sometimes like 'what is happening? This is amazing.'

Springtime Fun and Relaxation

We've been enjoying the spring weather before it gets super hot here in Oklahoma.  The boys love to spend time outside, especially Owen.  Some days they just like to relax on the patio.

Owen loves doing 'jobs' around the house.  He used the baby walker to mow the lawn just like Jonathan does.  He just went back and forth over and over again doing his pretend lawn work.  

We made Rice Krispy treats for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  Both boys loved helping and licking the spoon.

They decorated them with sprinkles.  Jack generally does not like anything sticky, but he got over it for a treat.  

I always feel a little bit sad for Owen when Jack is at school, because he misses having a buddy in the house.  I don't think playing with me is quite the same for him.  Here is Owen among the chaos and destruction that he creates during his time playing by himself.  

It was community helper day at school last week, and they had a firefighter and police officer come speak to their class.  They also got to take a tour of a firetruck.  Jack came home with his stickers from the speakers.  

We had to get food for Izzy last week at the pet store, so it turned into a bit of a field trip for the boys.  They loved seeing all of the animals.  I also discovered a possible cat allergy in Jack.  As soon as we got into the cat section his nose was bothering him and he was complaining that his eyes itched.  He sneezed this huge sneeze that emptied his sinuses.  As soon as we left the cat section he was fine.

Owen has been waking up earlier than he normally does recently, so he gets tired earlier in the day.  He'll say "I need nap now"  when he gets really tired.  He couldn't take a nap until after we picked Jack up from school last week, so he laid down before we left to rest.

Jack has had a recent interest in taking silly pictures.  He wanted an impromptu photo shoot the other day.  There's not much I can really say about these besides he's a bit of a weirdo ;).  

Per usual, Jackson has been drawing a lot of pictures.  He drew this bike, and he wrote the word "GO" all by himself without any help!  He wanted to write bike under the picture so I helped him sound it out, and he was able to figure it out besides the silent 'E' on the end.  It's fun to watch the whole process of learning how to read and write.

I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate Bible stories into our day-to-day routine, and I wanted to find something that would be easy to do and interesting to both boys.  I found this "My first Hands-on Bible," and it is great.  You read the stories, and it has little hands that stop you to do an activity or talk about something relevant to the story.  At the end it has different activities and talking points as well as a little prayer to help with explaining and retaining the story.  It's for ages 4-6, so Jack really gets into it.  Owen will listen and do some activities also.  I always wonder if Jack understands and how much he remembers.  One of the activities from the 10 Commandments story was to find the number 10 when you're out driving.  A week after we read the story he found a number 10 on a sign and referenced the story, so it was fun to see that he does remember what we read.  

Grandma Nichols came for a visit last weekend, and we had a lot of fun.  We made a trip to the Philbrook Museum where you can walk around in the gardens and look at different flowers and statues.  The boys love the statues and being able to run around freely.  

We're approaching Jack's pre-k graduation at the end of May, so there are going to be some fun end of year activities at school that we are looking forward to.